DuKe  University  Libraries 

Report  of  the  S 
Conf  Pam  #291 

DTT1113MEU 


R  E  I>  O  PI  T 


THE  SPECIAL    COMMITTEE 


TO  INQUIRE  INTO  CERTAIN  OUTRAGES  OF  THE  ENEMY. 


The  special  committee,  charged  by  a  resolution  of  the  House  to 
ascertain  and  report  the  facts  connected  with  the  recent  outrages 
alleged  to  have  been  perpetrated  in  the  northeastern  part  of  North 
Carolina  by  the  armed  forces  of  the  United  States,  and  to  recommend 
8uch  action  as  the  dignity  of  the  Confederate  States  should  demand, 
submit  the  following  report : 

The  committee  have  taken  several  depositions,  and  collected  such 
further  evidence  as  was  accessible,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  cor- 
rect knowledge  of  the  matters  referred  to  them.  This  evidence  is 
now  presented  to  the  House,  with  a  brief  outline  cf  the  facts  proved. 

In  the  month  of  December  last,  a  large  force  of  negro  soldiers,  in 
the  Eervice  of  the  United  States,  and  under  command  of  Brigadier 
General  Ed.  A.  Wilde,  invaded  the  county  of  Pasquotank.  While 
there,  they  arrested  a  citizen  of  the  county,  (Daniel  Bright,)  at  hi* 
own  residence,  and  hung  him  on  the  side  of  the  public  road,  a  few 
miles  north  of  Elizabeth  City.  Upon  his  back,  where  he  was  sus- 
pended, was  placed  a  placard,  with  the  following  words: 

"  This  guerrilla  hanged  by  order  of  Brigadier  General  Wildl. 
Daniel  Bright,  of  Pasquotank  county." 

Daniel  Bright  was  a  member  of  the  sixty-secon  1  Georgia  regiment, 
ander  command  of  Colonel  J.  R.  Griffin,  and  had  received  authority 
from  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina  to  raise  a  company  in  that 
county  for  local  defence.  Failing  in  the  eflfort,  he  had  retired  to  his- 
ferm,  an-d  was  there  seized,  carried  off  and  executed. 

Two  most  respectable  married  ladies  were  also  made  prisoners — 
Mrs.  i  hoebe  Munden,  wife  of  Lieutenant  W.  J.  Munden,  and  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Weeks,  wife  of  private  Pender  Weeks,  ot  Captain  John  T. 
Elliott's  company.     The  first  was  arrested  at  her  own  house,  in  the 


presence  only  of  her  three  children,  of  whom  the  oldest  was  ten  ye^.rs 
of  age,  on  Saturday,  the  1 2th  day  of  December,  conveyed  a  few  miles 
to  Elizabeth  City,  confined  in  a  room  without  fire,  bed  or  bedding, 
with  several  male  prisoners,  and  tied  by  the  feet  and  hands.  A  negro 
guard  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  pri^^oners.  The  succeeding  day  the 
other  lady,  Mrs.  Weeks,  was  placed  in  the  same  room.  They  wore  con- 
stantly guarded,  and  neither  was  allowed  to  leave  the  room,  for  the  most 
necessary  duty,  but  in  company  with  a  negro  armed  soldier.  For  a  more 
minute  recital  of  the  indignities  offered  the  sensibilities  of  the  sex,  the 
committee  forbear  to  do  more  than  refer  to  the  testimony  of  a  fellow-pris- 
oner, and  another,  a  resident  of  the  town  and  an  eye-witness  of  what  he 
describes.  Mrs.  Munden  was  in  delicate  health,  was  forced  from  a 
home  immediately  laid  in  ashes,  with  all  it  contained,  without  other 
apparel  than  she  wore  upon  her  person,  and  passed  several  nights  in 
the  cheerless  and  cold  apartments  to  which  she  was  confined  at  that 
inclement  season,  before  the  humanity  of  her  captors  were  so  far 
softened  as  to  permit  blankets  to  be  furnished  for  her  use.  They 
were  kept  until  Thursday,  and  then  removed  to  Norfolk.  It  has  been 
represented  to  her  husband  that  when  Mrs.  Munden  was  carried  ofi", 
her  wrists  were  bleeding  from  the  stricture  of  the  cords  with  which 
she  was  bound. 

The  purpose  of  these  arrests  of  unarmed  and  helpless  women  will 
appear  from  the  letter  of  General  Wild  to  Captain  Elliott,  dated  De- 
cember 17th,  which  accompanies  this  report.     In  it  he  says  : 

*' I  still  hold  in  custody  Mrs.  Munden  and  Mrs.  Weeks  as  hostages 
for  the  colored  soldier  taken  by  you.  As  he  is  treated,  so  shall  they 
be;  even  to  hanging.  By  this  time  you  know  that  I  am  in  earnest. 
Guerrillas  are  to  be  treated  as  pirates.  You  will  never  have  rest 
until  you- renounce  your  present  course,  or  join  the  regular  Confed- 
erate army." 

These  ladies  are  still  held  in  custody,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  letter 
of  General  B.  F.  Butler,  in  answer  to  a  communication  addressed  to 
him  by  Lieutenant  Munden  and  Mr.  Weeks,  dated  January  26th;  and 
while  he  states  that  he  has  countermanded  the  order  for  their  execu- 
tion, threatened  in  the  event  of  the  hanging  of  his  *'  colored"  soldier 
by  General  Wild,  he  does  not  disavow  in  any  other  respect  the  acts 
of  the  latter. 

Besides  these  acts  of  violence,  it  is  in  proof  that  several  private 
dwellings  in  Pasquotank  and  Camden  counties  were  set  on  fire  and 
consumed,  among  which  may  be  designated  those  of  W.  T.  White, 
Captain  Willis  Sanderlin  and  Major  Gregory — the  latter,  an  aged 
citizen  of  more  than  sixty  years,  was  seized  and  conveyed  away.  For 
what  purpose  General  Wild's  own  letter  to  Captam  Sanderlin,  written 
after  his  retreat  to  Virginia,  and  bearing  date  December  22d,  will 
disclose.     He  says  : 

"  I  shall  hold  Major  Gregory  as  a  hostage  for  the  colored  soldier 
captured  near  Shiloh,  I  shall  treat  him  exactly  as  your  people  treat 
that  soldier.  If  they  hang  him,  I  shall  hang  Major  Gregory;  and 
you  know  by  this  time  that  I  keep  my  word." 

Major  Gregory  was  released  afterwards  and   returned,  not  to  his 


home,  for  that  was  destroyed,  but  to  his  friends,  only  to  die  from  a 
paralysis  with  which  he  was  stricken  while  a  prisoner  in  the  enemy's 
hands. 

The  committee  invite  attention  to  the  minute  account  of  the  acts  of 
this  marauding  expedition,  contained  in  a  letter  written  at  Norfolk, 
December  28th,  to  the  New  York  Daily  News,  manifestly  prepared  by 
one  familiar  with  its  acts      They  insert  a  brief  extract  only  : 

**  Negroes  were  permitted  to  curse  and  abuse  defenceless  ladies,  to 
atrip  them  of  their  jewelry  and  clothing,  and  offer  them  indignities 
which  would  offend  delicacy  to  repeat.  A  small  Confederate  force 
captured  two  of  his  negroes,  in  a  skirmish,  and  for  this  he  outraged 
all  the  laws  of.civilized  war.  He  arrested  two  ladies  of  high  character, 
permitted  a  brutal  negro  soldiery  to  tie  them  hand  and  foot,  (as  I  believe, 
and  am  credibly  informed,)  and  kept  them  in  this  condition  for  two 
days  and  nights  ;  brought  them  to  Norfolk,  and  now  keeps  them  con- 
fined in  a  close  room.  There  he  holds  ttem  as  hostages  for  the  return 
of  his  negroes." 

The  committee  find  that  both  the  companies  which  the  Federal 
officer  designates  as  "  gwerrz7/a.y,"  commanded,  the  one  by  Captain 
Elliot,  the  other  by  Captain  Sanderlin,  were  raised  in  those  counties, 
under  authority  of  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  for  local  defence 
and  to  repel  invasions  ;  were  duly  organized,  and  their  officers  com- 
missioned by  him;  and  for  a  year  or  more  had  been  in  the  regular 
service  of  that  State.  At  the  time  referred  to  they  had  been  attached 
to,  and  formed  part  of,  the  sixty-sixth  North  Carolina  regiment,  un- 
der command  of  Colonel  James  W.  Hinton. 

The  committee  content  themselves  with  reporting  the  evidence  to 
the  House  with  a  short  explanatory  statement.  The  original  letters 
and  placard  referred  to  are  before  them,  and  are  submitted  with  this 
report.  They  forbear  comment.  It  would  add  no  force  to  the  simple 
narrative  of  facts. 

W.  N.  H.  SMITH,  Chairman. 


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